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Ensign vs Symbol - What's the difference?

ensign | symbol | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between ensign and symbol

is that ensign is a badge of office, rank, or power while symbol is a character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.

As verbs the difference between ensign and symbol

is that ensign is to designate as by an ensign while symbol is to symbolize.

As a proper noun Ensign

is {{surname}.

ensign

English

(wikipedia ensign)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A badge of office, rank, or power.
  • * (Edmund Waller) (1606-1687)
  • The ensigns of our power about we bear.
  • The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the United States Navy, junior to a lieutenant junior grade.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.}}
  • A flag or banner carried by military units. See standard, color, colour.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Hang up your ensigns , let your drums be still.
  • (label) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship to indicate nationality.
  • A junior commissioned officer in the 18th and 19th Centuries whose duty was to carry the unit's ensign.
  • A prominent flag or banner.
  • * 1667 ?, (John Milton), (Paradise Lost)
  • Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced.

    Synonyms

    (junior commissioned officer) * coronet (cavalry equivalent of the infantry ensign) * second lieutenant (OF-1), first NATO commissioned officer grade above OF-0 trainee officer

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To designate as by an ensign.
  • *
  • To distinguish by a mark or ornament
  • (heraldry) To distinguish by an ornament, especially by a crown.
  • Any charge which has a crown immediately above or upon it, is said to be ensigned .

    symbol

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.
  • $ is the symbol for dollars in the US and some other countries.
    '
  • ' is the octothorpe symbol .
  • ''Chinese people use word symbols for writing.
    The lion is the symbol''' of courage; the lamb is the '''symbol of meekness or patience.
  • Any object, typically material, which is meant to represent another (usually abstract) even if there is no meaningful relationship.
  • The dollar symbol has no relationship to the concept of currency or any related idea.
  • (linguistics) A type of noun whereby the form refers to the same entity independently of the context; a symbol arbitrarily denotes a referent. See also icon and index.
  • A summary of a dogmatic statement of faith.
  • The Apostles, Nicene Creed and the confessional books of Protestantism, such as the Augsburg Confession of Lutheranism are considered symbols .
  • Visible traces or impressions, made using a writing device or tool, that are connected together and/or are slightly separated. Sometimes symbols represent objects or events that occupy space or things that are not physical and do not occupy space.
  • (crystallography) The numerical expression which defines a plane's position relative to the assumed axes.
  • That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • They do their work in the days of peace and come to pay their symbol in a war or in a plague.
  • Share; allotment.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • The persons who are to be judged shall all appear to receive their symbol .

    Derived terms

    * status symbol * typographical symbol

    Verb

  • To symbolize.
  • (Tennyson)

    See also

    * punctuation